Open Access publishing and digital workflows essential during COVID-19 crisis

Stockholm University Press’ mission to promote the importance of Open Access publishing is becoming more of a priority in the current COVID-19 crisis. The Press aims to provide researchers with an alternative route to publishing peer-reviewed articles and books making the content accessible for anyone free from paywalls, without compromising on the academic rigour and quality.

The Press team collaborates with authors and editors from all over the world, which means that they can continue to work without disruption via online platforms such as e-mail, online meetings and cloud-based solutions. As all the workflows are already digital, the ongoing projects and review processes remain running as before the pandemic crisis. A smooth running and well-organised digital workflow seems to be an asset under these circumstances.

The Stockholm University Press and all the Editorial Boards thus welcome submissions of any new book proposals or proposals for new journal titles to be added to the platform. Maybe this is an excellent time for some researchers to concentrate on writing up essential results of their work?

Access to knowledge is essential in a time of crisis

In these difficult times, we believe that access to knowledge and further education is of utmost importance. As the consequences of the current pandemic crisis are very likely to have an impact on most of the modern society as we know it, we hope to be able to provide a trustworthy quality outlet for communicating research within all fields of interest. Not only is it essential with access to well-written research papers on how to deal with the spread of virus infections or how to cure people, but we will also need analysis of what will implications of the lock-down of society in general. What will, for example, be the result of closing down cultural establishments for a long time? Or, what will happen to the global economy when entire work sectors are disrupted due to the travel ban or changing of consumer habits?

Making sure that all research about all areas of society is available for those who want to widen their horizons is, therefore, something that we will continue to strive for

Find more material to open up your horizon

For those who wish to find Open Access content already now, we can recommend several databases where all content is free to download for anyone. One example is the OAPEN library with thousands of free books, another is the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) where you can find links to more than 14,000 journals. It might be possible to find and read previous research that can give us a clue to how society, in general, can recover from the crisis?